MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow hopes that OSCE observers will arrive at crossing points on the Russian-Ukrainian border as soon as possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
“We hope the OSCE monitors will arrive at the Donetsk and Gukovo crossing points as soon as possible. We hope that their unbiased monitoring of the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border will help in delivering true information to the global community and in creating favorable conditions for soonest cessation of armed clashes in eastern Ukraine,” the statement said.
Earlier on Thursday, the OSCE Permanent Council decided to send 16 observers to Donetsk and Gukovo checkpoints on Russian-Ukrainian border. The mission will work for three months. During this time, the observers will monitor the checkpoints’ operations and movement across the border.
Earlier this month, Moscow invited OSCE observers to assess the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, which has been hit multiple times by Ukrainian artillery.
On July 13, shells exploded in the Russian city of Donetsk in Rostov region, killing one civilian and injuring two.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov stressed that Ukraine “cynically denies obvious facts and is doing everything to reject accusations of the shelling of Russian territory."
Moscow condemned the attacks, saying that such provocations might have irreversible consequences.
